temporary bike path. >> at its peak at any given moment at its peak there could be up to 400 workers out there working. we know what our schedule is and we are on target. >> crews are also taking advantage of the closure to spruce things up cleaning off the face of the tunnel and replacing light bulbs inside it. >> this is getting a makeover too. with the bridge closed, crews can get four months of maintenance work done in four days. >> we're painting, electrical work, replacing all the burnt out lights that we possibly can, clearing drains, any kind of deck work that needs to be done, paving, pothole repair, we'll do that. this is our chance to get everything done as quickly as possible. >> so come tuesday not only will commuters get to tramp across a shiny new eastern span but a spiffed up western span, too. >> we will have a great bridge on this side and a great bridge on that side.

>> we're back here live. you're looking at the toll plaza. of course, it is closed now but hopefully not for long. cal trans says as of 8:00 tonight this entire project should be 40% complete. by our calculations, if they continue on this pace, they should be entirely finished by 8:00 p.m. on monday, but cal trans says if they are ready they will open it early, but right now they are planning for a 5:00 a.m. opening tuesday morning. reporting live in oakland, i'm jody hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> jody, thank you very much. the sooner the better as far as those drivers are concerned as we look at a live look at our chopper from the san mateo bridge. very slow. it's been very slow for two or three hours. the bay bridge, as jody was saying, set to reopen by tuesday morning. in the meantime, we have everything you need to know about the bay bridge closure at nbcbayarea.com. we put a link on the top

left-hand corner of our home page and that is where you will find our bridge closure guide complete with traffic maps and other transit options. >> just days before that new span is set to open cal trans has settled a lawsuit from a truck driver who died when he failed to navigate the s curve on the old span. "san francisco chronicle" reports that cal trans settled with the family for $700,000. the lawsuit said cal trans did not adequately warn drivers. they said that he was traveling too fast and he was carrying too much weight. labor day weekend is upon us. some may have had to change plans because of the rim fire. the rim fire is 32% contained now but yosemite, which has stayed open, closed two camp grounds. they said crews will start sampling and testing water from

the hetch hetchy reservoir today. that's the city's water supply. there is no longer concern about ash threatening the quality of the water. all drinking water is drawn from a depth of 260 feet. the rim fire is the fifth largest wild fire in california's history. the fire is impacting people who are not vacationing there. we'll have a look at the air quality concerns. >> dave, better containment of that fire. we have a little bit of better news to report on the air quality. it is still close to unhealthy levels. that smoke 20 to 30,000 feet up in the atmosphere is getting caught up in that upper level flow. it is still traveling across reno and tahoe. instead of unhealthy levels, we are in the moderate category. it looks like it will stay that way for the next two days. here is the other hitch in the forecast. unfortunately i said thunderstorms are possible sunday and mona cross parts of the sierra. that could even spark off more

wildfires as we head into the extended weekend. that's something to closely watch. a close look at the conditions at the rim fire whmpt it comes to the forecast the biggest change is by labor day we're looking at the possibility of showers in this area. that could help firefighters a little bit as well. definitely a two-sided story. any kind of lightening strikes could spark more fires. we'll have more on the labor day forecast back here at home. twice last night in the span of four hours on separate sides of town san mateo police officers shot at robbery suspects. the first shooting around 1:00 in the morning at homes around balboa avenue. the second shooting, near west san carlos street and meridian avenue. the shooting in san jose, in that case the officer shot a robbery suspect who police say tried to run the officer over with his car. the suspect and an police had robbed a woman overnight in downtown san jose. the suspect is in the hospital. the other shooting is a man who

held up the safe way at gun point. they found him a couple of blocks away in the middle of the road. that suspect raymond anthony carbenas. he refused to give up his weapon. the shots missed and he surrendered his weapon. police in hollister are looking for a missing 14-year-old girl. they believe she may be heading to mexico with this man. the girl is 5'2", brown hair, brown eyes last seen wearing a light bru shirt and light blue ripped jeans. the two may be in a chevy silverado. they say they have notified u.s. customers and border patrol and chp. president obama is asking americans for support as he moves closer to taking action against syria. today his administration bluntly

accused bashar al assad's regime of releasing chemical weapons on his own people. we have the details. also, reaction from the syrian community here in the bay area, marianne. >> jessica, president obama says he won't send troops into syria. today i talked with the president of the syrian american council here in the bay area. he says his group, which has 400 members, is not asking for american soldiers to respond to syria but he is hoping the u.s. will take swift action to stop what he called the syrian president's rein of terror. >> reporter: what led up to the tragic deaths of more than 1400 people in syria. today secretary of state john kerry revealed unclassified intelligence indicating the syrian regime prepared for last week's chemical attacks for days. >> this is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. this is what assad did to his own people.

>> reporter: president obama said today he is considering a limited strike. >> in no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground, that would involve a long-term campaign. >> reporter: he said the world has an obligation to make sure countries are not using chemical weapons. former u.s. defense secretary leon panetta speaking for his institute near monterey agreed. >> it would be nice if the u.n. acted. it would be nice if other allies acted. it would be nice if others took that action. when that line has been drawn and action needs to be taken, then the united states ultimately has to do that for the sake of the world and for the sake of world peace. >> reporter: this is the president of the northern california chapter of the syrian american council. he says his sister and father recently fled syria in fear and other relatives have died. >> my we have's uncle, he was actually shot dead by government attacks. >> reporter: he hopes the u.s.

will take swift action. >> nobody's asking for american boots on the ground. syria has enough men and women to defend themselves, it's just disabled the chemical weapons from bashar assad. that's what we're asking for. >> reporter: if the u.s. doesn't do something, the senseless killings will continue. tomorrow the united nations investigation team leaves for syria, but kerry says that investigation won't reveal anything the u.s. doesn't already know. marianne favro, nbc bay area news. thanks, marianne. still ahead at 5:00, apple makes a play to keep its customers. what the company is doing to make you want to buy a new iphone. i'm stephanie chuong, live on the scene of a double homicide investigation. a young man accused of killing two older relatis. we'll have the details coming up. plus, bringing wildlife back to the wine country. the new push and who's behind it. good afternoon.

i'm jeff in the nbc bay area weather center, fog cleared out quickly today at the coast line. stunning view right now of stan across the embarcadero across the bay. that may have you thinking about the giants' game on the nbc bay area at 6:30. areas of the thunderstorms may impact anyone with temperatures in the 80s. i'm back with your forecast in a few. >> announcer: closed captioning sponsored by mancini's sleep world.

friday night before a holiday, golden gate bridge looks pretty good considering the fact that no bay bridge is open and yet people are leaving for the holiday for the commute. right now go across the golden gate bridge, pretty smooth. >> i think they left early because when i came across it, it was a mess. traffic backups, looking for the yellow the slow, the red the big problems.

680 to the 80 a problem. san mateo, a couple of problems. all things considered, i think people left early today. one east bay town dealing with its first and second homicides of the year. a man and woman found dead, a relative accused of killing them this morning. a 911 call came in at 2:30 a.m. at tara hills drive. stephanie is joining us live. there's an active investigation still going on. >> reporter: that's right. 16 hours later. 15, 16 hours later. it's been active ever since. police actually served a search warrant at noon and since then investigators and an evidence team have been inside this two-story home where you see a camper out in front. a property described by police as cluttered so it is taking some time. in fact, the coroner's office hasn't even arrived yet. investigators say a 25-year-old man called 911 and then met officers at the front door and said there were injured people inside inviting them to follow

him in. what officers found were a man and a woman described as 50 and over already dead. in a bizarre twist, it was that 25-year-old, the one who led police to the bodies who is the suspect and the only one. police say he is related to the two victims. the three of them lived at the house together. people described this as a very quiet neighborhood. >> it was devastating. the kids in my home was very shocked. they saw the police cars outside. >> yeah, it's really weird. you can't really say what's going to happen where. you just hope that something like this doesn't happen to somebody that's close to you. >> investigators are not revealing exactly how the three are related nor how the victims died. police canvassed the neighborhood and said police reported that they heard and saw nothing out of the ordinary so information is limited right now. we also learned that police have been to this house before.

they won't say for what and when that happened, but we do know there has been one issue in the past here. this is the first two homicides of the year here in this town of less than 20,000 people. the last one happened in 2011. live in panult, stephanie traung, nbc news. thank you, stephanie. grandma is in critical condition. the grandson who lives with the elderly woman said there was one smoke alarm in the home. it woke him up at 8:45 this morning. the smoke was from the ceiling to the knees. he escaped with an uncle. the grandmother was stuck inside the house a little longer waiting for san jose fire. >> firefighters entered the back side of the structure where the fire was and they were able to pull out one of the residents from the burning structure. that person is now in critical condition, was transported to a

nearby hospital. >> the fire department said they arrived within six minutes of the call. an arson investigator is looking into the cause. now to an nbc bay area follow up. a limousine safety bill passed. senate bill 338 would require all limos to be equipped with two fire extinguishers, undergo annual inspections and meet state and federal safety standards. today they passed an amended bill allowing the chp to charge limo operators $75 for violations. the bill now goes to the full assembly next month. the toxic dried up salt marsh in napa's wine country will be teaming with fish and birds. county water officials celebrated the completion of a pipeline that would deliver water to the napa sonoma salt

marsh. the new pipeline will deliver recycled water. it will take about a decade to fully restore the area for wildlife. >> this is where our fish breed. this is where our birds overwinter during migratory season. this is what cleanses pollutants from the water. so the restoration is essential to the future of san francisco bay. >> the pipeline will also supply badly needed water to vineyards in the caneros wine region. water is set to flow this fall. the america's cup finals are just over a week away. lawrence scott explains there's plenty of sailing on the bay. the young guns have been given wings on their own catamarans. >> america is set to face the emirates team. the summer of racing turns its attention to sailing's next wave

with the red bull youth america's cup. these are the same boats used during last year's world cup series on the bay. the sailors representing the american teams are expecting the very best out of the international competition. >> all the teams are top sailors. there are a few really good teams from around the world. >> each team has strong individual talent. there's olympic medallists in the field. it will be a tough regatta. the 1845s are physically demanding. everybody has been working hard in the gym and are fit and ready to go. >> there are six sailors from 19 to 24. there's a nationality rule. they're ready to show their stuff knowing this is the pathway to be aboard a boat in the pursuit for the america's cup. they seek the title that will be won on wednesday, september 4th. then a few days later oracle u.s.a. and emirates new zealand

take to the course. i'm lawrence scott. let's check in with meteorologist jeff for your holiday weekend weather forecast. quite warm today, jeff. >> yeah, it was hot. we did have some isolated 90s. high pressure out in the desert southwest. that's weekeniakening out in th midwest. 96 in livermore, drop to 85 by monday. temperatures dropping over the next couple of days. anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees. let's get you into the first part of that labor day forecast. what you'll find is a little bit of cloud cover for the interior valleys. mainly clear for the east bay and also the south bay. temperatures in the low 60s. by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow instead of 80s like we had today you'll be primarily in the 60s and 70s throughout the bay area. let's get you outside to the

live high definition sky camera network. in san jose it is clear right now. air quality is at excellent levels. as we mentioned earlier if you are traveling up to tahoe or also reno, they're very close to unhealthy levels of ozone due to smoke from the rim fire. a gorgeous shot from emoryville looking towards san francisco. the sun is reflecting off the water. your saturday forecast has temperatures going down a few degrees. instead of the low 90s we had in the extreme south bay we'll have 86 in san jose, 87 in loss good does. palo alto, 85. 91 in gilroy. if you have plans to go to the beach the spot to be at tomorrow no doubt will be santa cruz expecting 77 degrees there. still on the warm, close to the hot side here for the east bay. too close to that main source of hot air coming in from the east so we'll go for 89 in livermore. much cooler from alameda to

haydenward. we'll see the temperatures dropping off tomorrow primarily with areas of 60s near the coast line. 71 in san francisco, 81 in san mateo. 78 in oakland. we have some changes coming our way. by sunday, thunderstorm threat increasing primarily across the sierra with some monsoonal moisture from the south. for us it is not locked in but computer models have increased confidence. sunday night into monday, slight chance of thunderstorms on monday and also across the sierra. i do think you can expect fluctuations in this forecast over the next two days. right now we're holding the best possibility of thunderstorms sunday and monday. monday would be our best chance of maybe some scattered thunderstorms. temperatures cooling off into the low and mid 80s inland, 70s by the bay and 60s at the coast line. that's one to watch this weekend. our weather team will be here to monitor all of that for you. >> jeff, thanks a lot. coming up, a little pay

back. apple paying you to get a new iphone. >> and if you're a 49ers fan, you want to use it to follow this blog. meet the blogger behind the niners' breaking news.

there are more than 7,000 languages spoken in the world, but the average american speaks about 1 1/2. new research from the university of south carolina might help people learn more languages. turns out music might be the key. singing in a foreign language helps people remember foreign phrases. it's easier for people to remember song lyrics so if you listen to music from different countries and pick up the lyrics, you might learn more words. apple says bring in your

iphone and receive credit. this is met to help users who want to recycle their old phones. target and radio shack offer a buy back program. apple is late to the party. apple doesn't say how much it will offer for the new phones but the condition will probably weigh into the rebate. the new iphone is expected to be unveiled september 10th. we'll be back in a moment with a man who's made his passion profit.

football season is here, and that means football blogs are in

full swing as you know. >> yes. if you're a niner fan you may already follow this next blog and a story you'll only see on nbc bay area. our business and tech reporter scott budman spent the day with this 49er blogger. that's right. football bloggers try to break stories about the team and the savvy ones use social media to spread the news. here a day in the life of a top 49er blogger. >> reporter: ryan is on his way to work. grabbing coffee at campbell's orchard valley and settling down for another writing session as one of the leading sources of information about san francisco 49er football. >> i'm going to write about kendall hunter because he's coming back from a serious knee injury. >> because while selling insurance pays most of ryan's insurance for now, his blog

ninerfans.com is hot. pulling in about 12,000 fans. >> we had 231 fans just today. >> reporter: all sharing as ryan bleeds scarlet and gold. >> my family's had two front row season tickets since i was 8 years old. >> reporter: grew into a blog that sells advertising and merchandise not to mention the source of niners' scoops like quinton patton his first nfl nickname. >> what do you think about being 7-eleven. colin kaepernick is number 7 and you're 11. he started laughing. >> reporter: and hobnobbing with former lineman, dave fee orie. >> 74, right? >> yes. >> you know yourself? >> when he stopped in for coffee. he knows his stuff all right. and what's better, selling insurance or blogging? >> come on. my passion is the niners. gold blooded all the way through. it has to be the 49ers. i don't look at it as a job, i

look at it as play time. every day i'm at recess like a kid in a candy store. >> pretty much like us, every day we're at recess. >> come on, scott. i'll tell you, he treats his blog seriously. lots of hours on the computer, lots of hours doing research and of course lots of time watching football. >> very passionate about it. >> quinton pattyn's new name, 7-eleven, that means he's open. >> double meaning. that may stick. look for it. >> good, scott. you heard it here first. >> going on weather wise, my man? >> a little bit of cooling as we head onto the labor day weekend. temperatures, there we go, into the mid 80s. slight chance of thunderstorms for the bay area on monday. only about 10% and best possibility would be across the sierra. something to stay tuned on. >> let's get out to the live shot. one last look at the san mateo bridge. slow moving eastbound, not bad westbound. >> not too bad. we'll continue to follow all the

traffic updates over the next couple of days. we'll be back at 6:00. >> see you then. n the broadcast tonight, the strongest case yet for a strike on syria. the obama administration tonight calling president assad a thug and a murderer for chemical attacks on his own people. secretary of state john kerry laying out the intelligence for a war-fatigued nation. a war-fatigued nation. >> some cite the risk of doing things. but we need to ask what is the risk of doing nothing? >> tonight, u.s. warships are in position. will the president give the order to strike? "nightly news" begins now. good evening. i'm lester holt in for brian tonight. w